Shooting won't deter foreign trips

But superintendent says more caution needed

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 28/2/2014 (1014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The horrific Dominican Republic shooting shouldn't stop Manitoba high school students from taking foreign trips -- but don't let word get around you're coming.

Students from the Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine are adamant the violent robbery that abruptly ended their humanitarian trip last month should not deter high school students from going to other countries, superintendent Alain Laberge said Thursday.

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Les Lehmann in hospital.

But, said Laberge, students and teachers can become targets if the wrong people know they're coming, and that can happen when you go to the same place at the same time every year.

The group included 18 students and eight teachers and parent-chaperones from ecole Pointe-des-Chênes in Ste. Anne and ecole régionale Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

They were making what had become an annual humanitarian trip to help a nearby orphanage and school. They had barely arrived in rural Dominican Republic in late January when gunmen broke into their apartment compound.

A teacher and four girls were briefly held at gunpoint. The compound's manager, Les Lehmann of Winnipeg, intervened and was shot nine times before the robbers fled.

Lehmann is still recovering. His family could not be reached.

Laberge said some students and teachers are still having flashbacks, and some are probably seeing counsellors provided confidentially by the school division.

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